Stockholm and Helsinki are the 'most welcoming' cities in the world

To mark the UN's World Cities Day on October 31st, booking site Travelbird released a study listing the welcoming cities in the world. It did so to raise awareness about mass tourism and sustainable travel.

The Amsterdam-based tech firm analyzed the world's top 500 tourist destinations based on ‘welcome’ factors, such as logistics at the point of arrival, citizens’ happiness, safety, openness to host tourists, and English language proficiency.

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The study found Singapore to be the world's most welcoming city, "successfully managing their high visitor levels with the best airport in the world and cultivation of a safe city ecosystem," Travelbird said.

The Asian city state was closely trailed by the Swedish and Finnish capitals Stockholm and Helsinki. Neighboring Oslo (8.), Copenhagen (12.) and Gothenburg (25.) also made the enviable list.

Copenhagen the most welcoming according to travel experts.

In the expert opnion category - where TravelBird asked over 15,000 travel journalists about their personal opinions - Nordic cities fared even better. Copenhagen was the global winner, followed by Oslo and Stockholm on a shared third place.

In a related study, looking at which cities suffered the worst from over-tourism (based on tourist opinions), Travelbird listed the top 5 as follows: Barcelona, Mumbai, Amsterdam, Venice and Hanoi.

“As a stakeholder in the future of travel, TravelBird has a responsibility to confront the growing problem of over-tourism,” says TravelBird CEOSteven Klooster.